I Should Have Bought You Flowers
by Mad-like
Summary: Mercedes moves on after hearing Sam has found his soulmate.
1. Man of the Year

"Congratulations Dr. Henry Jones, Lima Small Businessman of the Year."

Finn Hudson picked at his chicken salad and wished this luncheon over. Sure, the desk clerk could handle whatever business came in during lunch but he was expecting a big parts shipment this afternoon and Tracy wasn't very detail oriented. If she didn't inventory the parts right then and there it would be a hell of a mess to straighten out he was sure as he looked at his watch. Home stretch. At least he only had to devote one hour to this, thank god Dr. Jones insisted on a luncheon with the difference between that and the dinner/gala they usually held being donated to charity. As Finn watched Dr. Jones, he wondered if he's related to Kurt's friend Mercedes, wasn't her dad some kind of doctor or something, giving an acceptance speech. It was short, thank god! Dr. Jones got to the 'in conclusion' part in about five minutes. Finn wondered what kind of doctor he was while looking around for his coat, considering how to politely leave now.

"And finally," Close enough, Finn thought, slipping out the door. He left so quickly he missed the president of the Lima Chamber of Commerce saying, "We have one last presentation to make to Henry. Please welcome a very special guest, all the way from LA!"

**Later that evening**

Finn saw her at the grocery store. For some reason he always thought of her eating junk food, probably because of her weight, but now that he thinks of it he's never actually seen her eating. Yes, it must be the extra weight she carries. Correction, used to carry but Finn doesn't know her well enough to notice the difference. He does notice she's in the produce section looking at fruit and that her cart has fruit, vegetables and bottled water. He looks at his cart, tv dinners, soda, chips and salsa. Well, he does burn it off, or at least he did when he played football. Now Finn's starting to see the numbers on the scale creep up.

"Hey, I didn't know you were were in town." Finn said, walking up to the short black girl.

"Hey Finn." Mercedes smiled back. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. But why are you back in Lima? You live in LA, right?"

"Yes, I live in LA but I'm here to surprise my dad. He got an award and I did a surprise performance. " She smiled to herself, thinking how happy her dad was to see her. "He really liked it. But he had a surprise for me too, he and mom had tickets to see Alicia Keys in Toledo tonight. My mom wanted to stay home, said she can see Alicia anytime. She said it like Alicia Keys lives next door. I made them go, I figure they can see me anytime." She peered into his cart. "Oh, the good old days when I used to eat like that."

"Well, whatever you're doing seems to be working." He chanced a compliment. Actually he didn't see much difference because he's never really looked at her but girls like that kind of shit.

"Thank you." She giggled proudly. "I've been trying real hard since graduation. You know, it seemed like a good time to start over. Leaving town for college and all."

"Oh." College. Well, Finn wouldn't know anything about that.

"Well, I'm sure you have better things to do tonight than hang out at the supermarket. It was really nice talking to you." She started to push her cart away.

"Mercedes?" he called out.

"Yes?"

"You want to go out for dinner at Breadsticks?" He asked. "I'm just eating tv dinners and...wow, that didn't sound good. Starting over..."

"Dinner? I don't know, I thought I'd see if Sam was around and..."

"Sam? Sam Evans? Britt's been keeping him pretty busy."

"Britt?" Not that Finn noticed but her voice trembled, just a little. "He's dating Britt now?"

"Dating?" Finn laughed at the ridiculousness of it. "They're kinda married, at least that's how he described it when he asked if she could move in. Why he figured he had to go through all that trouble to get laid I don't know. All he had to do was ask the girl, that worked for half the football team. Anyway, my mom didn't buy that Mayan marriage shi...I mean stuff. One thing my mom can't stand is a player. That's why she always hated Puck, but she and Burt are out of town a lot so..."

"Yes Finn," the short black girl broke into his story. "I'd love to have dinner with you."

**Dinner with Mercedes**

It took two hours of rambling on his part before Finn realized that Mercedes doesn't talk much. Why did he think she'd be constantly running off at the mouth like every other girl he knows? "I've never spent time with a girl who listens the way you do. Or were you daydreaming the whole time?"

"No," She straightened the napkin in her lap. "I was just thinking it's a shame you're so down on yourself for being back in Lima. Like it makes you a failure. I don't think so."

"Easy to say living in LA." Finn muttered.

"I guess that's true, but starving to death in LA doesn't make me a success and you a failure."

"You're not starving in LA. I thought you were working as a backup singer." Hadn't she specifically said that at Thanksgiving?

"I'm not a backup singer. I didn't want to make a big deal of it since Sam was so proud of helping me get that job but the whole thing was kind of a scam. Luckily my dad looked at the contract they wanted me to sign. Anyway, I don't see what's so great about LA. UCLA isn't any better than Ohio State."

"Are you considering moving back?"

"Maybe." She said vaguely.

"Shane goes there, doesn't he?"

"Yes, but that's irrelevant. If I came back it would be mostly financial. It's so much more expensive than Ohio State would be cause I'm from out of state. The people who were so gung ho on my going to LA aren't footing the bills, are they?" She twirled the glass she was holding. "Probably just wanted me out of town."

"Out of town?" Finn was confused. "Why would Schuester want you out of town?"

"Schuester? He wouldn't recognize me if he saw me on the street. I meant Sam." She said it as if that would mean something to Finn. Nothing, he's getting nothing.

"Sam?"

"Sam. " she repeated. "We used to go out, you know."

"No, I didn't know that." Britt's over their house all the time, how could Sam have been dating Mercedes and she's only been in his house a couple of times, that he knows of. She was at the housewarming party his parents had and she stopped by to see Kurt on his birthday. So as far as Finn knows, that's it. Of course Britt moved in, fat cat and all, and Finn barely noticed so maybe she spent more time there than he thought.

"We went to the prom together, remember?" She said, interrupting his thoughts. "Twice."

"Yeah, but that was because he couldn't afford..." She put her glass down with a thud. Ok, Finn realized, now is not the time to ask why Sam never brought her around the house. "Oh, I didn't realize you guys were serious."

"I guess you're not the only one. Don't get me wrong, with the distance and all...yeah, it's not like we hadn't said that we'd never go out for coffee with people, but I would have thought he'd say something before he got serious with somebody. I thought that's what we agreed on, at least give each other a warning. Anyway, skinny white girl is probably what he always wanted anyway, somebody he can be seen in public with."

"What does that mean?" She didn't talk much but when she did Finn could barely follow her train of thought.

"Nothing. It means nothing." She twirled a strand of hair around her finger, a nervous habit Finn assumed. "None of it means anything. But anyway, about Ohio." She continued, mentally drop-kicking the box labelled Sam Evans. "They could never afford to live in New York, what with its golden tickets and prizes dropping at your feet like prom crowns, if it wasn't for people back in Lima paying the bills, right? I mean, the work you do at the garage is what enables Kurt to pay the tuition at NYADA. That's place is pricey and he doesn't have a job."

"There's his job at Vogue." Finn informed her.

"Vogue, huh? And he makes enough to pay the tuition at NYADA?"

"No, it's an unpaid internship he got a couple of days after he got there."

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Of course he did. Take it from me, LA is nothing like that, at least for girls that look like me. Of course, if she was in LA I'm sure somebody would chase her down the street and knock her over the head with a golden statuette. She always gets what she wants."

Girls that look like me? Finn added that to the skinny white girls comment and decided to leave both remarks alone. Instead he followed up with "Always?"

"Always." She ticked off items on the list she kept in her head. "She had you for as long as she wanted you, she got Kurt, she got the school play, she got prom queen, she got NYADA, she got the golden ticket, she got the Winter fair. Always."

That was quite a long list so Finn settled on the most surprising item on it. "Kurt?"

"Kurt. " She drained her water glass. "She's got Kurt. I used to have him and now she's got him and they're living happily ever after in their spacious New York loft, all paid for by people in Ohio. People they like to call losers." She looked at her buzzing cellphone. "Do you mind if I answer this?"

**Early the next morning**

Sam Evans rolled over and sniffed the air. He smelled his new wife's perfume but nothing else. He looked at the clock, 9am. If Finn were home he'd be smelling coffee right now. For as long as he's lived with the Hudsons Finn has been up early making coffee. Old habit he said, he's been doing that, making breakfast for his mom, as long as he can remember. Except for the three months over the summer when Finn was gone Sam's awoken up to the smell of coffee. But not this morning. Oh well, Finn must have gotten lucky. He wrapped his arm around his wife's narrow waist and fell back asleep.

When he woke up again Britt was gone and Sam smelled coffee. God, it was nice having a hot wife and she made him breakfast. That was even better! Sam pulled on a pair of boxers and went upstairs to the kitchen.

"Hey honey!" Britt jumped up and ran over, planting a kiss on her new husband.

"Hey Britt." He squeezed her ass. "Finn." He acknowledge the other person in the room. "I was starting to worry about you."

"Right!" Finn was pissed at Sam for having Britt spend the night, especially after Carol made her view on the situation quite clear.

"So where were you?" Sam asked, piling pancakes on his plate.

"Got in late last night and had to leave early for Columbus. Just got back."

"Columbus? What were you doing in Columbus?"

"I ran into Mercedes and she had these friends..."

"Mercedes?" He stopped shoving pancakes in his mouth. "I didn't know she was in town."

"Baby," Britt answered, "I told you I saw her at the Mall."

"I thought you meant Wade." Sam answered, knowing his bride confused the two.

"Wade, Mercedes, Unique, all the same. Didn't I explain that to you, when he wears a dress..."

"Mercedes and Unique are two different people." Sam explained patiently. "Didn't we go over that several times? So Mercedes is in town?"

"She isn't anymore." Finn explained. "I just got back from dropping her off at the airport."

"So you're dating her now?"

"You're about the fifth guy to ask me that! As I started to say, we went to a party with some friends of hers and every other guy there was like, dude, you dating Mercedes? Schuester may not have liked it but there were no complaints about the way she was dancing last night, you can bank on that." Finn was a little irritated so he threw in a calculated lie or two. "They played the song, Sexual Healing? And she and Shane got to operating." Finn chuckled at the fake memory. In truth noted man-whore Anthony Rashaid was the man doing the attempted grinding, the song in question was Flo Rida's "Whistle" and Mercedes wasn't the only girl throwing punches at douchebags that night. "But, back to your question. No."

"Why not? What's wrong with her?" If Finn didn't know better he'd think Sam was angry. Very interesting.

"Cause she's fat." Britt said matter-of-factly. "And black." They both stared at the thin blond. "What! It's true. I know what guys like, white guys at least, and they like girls that look like me. If I hadn't given away all my money I'd get implants." She shoved her breasts towards Sam. "Then I'd be the perfect wife."

"Britt, was that nice?" Sam asked.

"I'm a truth-teller honey." His kinda-sorta wife reminded him. "And plus she's not here."

"But still, it's rude and you need to stop doing that."

"But honey." She whined. "It's true! If she was Beyonce's kind of black that would be one thing, but she's too dark. And the other thing which I won't say again but you know what I'm talking about."

"Last time, babe." Sam said and yes, he was angry. "Just drop it."

Britt stared at her husband, confused. Then she did what she always does in these situations. She started making out with Sam. Sam really wanted to know more about Finn and Mercedes but was distracted by the kissing and her fingers stroking his abs. He decided he wanted that more.

**A week later**

"What's new?" It was a simple enough question, Sam thought. Nothing much. That's what Finn has said every day sine Sam moved in but no, not today. Today, when Sam is in a hurry to get to school and find out why his hot wife has suddenly gone cold Finn is droning on about the garage. Sam doesn't give a damn about the garage so he lets the stream of blah, blah, blah wash over him until he hears a familiar name.

"Mercedes? You seem to be spending a lot of time on the phone with her lately. I noticed you even keep track of what time it is in LA."

"Hell yeah!" Finn laughed. "I made the mistake of calling her from the garage, right before we opened for the day? And she ripped me a new one for calling her at the ass crack of dawn." Sam totally did not like the smile that spread over Finn's face.

"Well look at you, a girlfriend on each coast." Sam snapped.

"Girlfriend? Nah, she's helping me with marketing."

"Marketing? What's that, shopping?"

Finn laughed. "It's got nothing to do with shopping, or if it does it's more like convincing people to buy stuff. That's her minor and Mercedes has been giving me all kinds of ideas. And she's good at it, business is up 15% and..."

"What does she know about garages?" He asked sullenly. Sam hadn't spoken to Mercedes in months, maybe twice since she's been gone and never for more than 5 minutes. Well, that didn't matter, he has Britt doesn't he? Well, maybe not right this minute but he was confident in his ability to get her back.

"Not much at first but she's learned a lot lately. And business is business. It doesn't matter that it's a garage. Not much anyway. She says..."

"That's fascinating, Finn, but can you tell me the rest while you drop me off at school?"

**Just after Regionals, mid-January  
**

Just like old times, Rachel thought, stepping on-stage at McKinley High. "I can't tell you," She address a breathless Marley Rose "how great it feels to stand here again. School plays, presentations, show choir. Enjoy it all, Marley. Those were the best days of my life."

"Really? Because didn't you win the NAYDA Winter Showcase? Like the first freshman ever?" The brown-eyed girl gushed.

Rachel nodded and smiled indulgently at the wide-eyed sophomore. "Yes, but here's where it all started. This very stage." She turned around and looked at the rest of the assembled glee club members. "I'm so proud of you, all of you. And Nationals!" Best to ignore the loophole they slipped in under and focus on the positive. "Defending Nationals Champions! I couldn't be prouder. And to show you how proud, Kurt, who unfortunately couldn't join me on this trip back," Blaine slouched in his seat. Wouldn't was more like it. "And I came up with a set list. Of course Finn as your director has the final say but..."

Finn sat in the last row of the auditorium, looking at the set list Rachel had given him. It was good, the kind of thing that New Directions always did. A ballad by Marley followed up by a group piece led by Marley and Ryder. This formula had worked, many times before but was it fair? What's fair anyway? Is Marley the best female singer or is she the one most like Rachel? Tina is a good singer, has always been a loyal team player, and this is her last opportunity. But is that fair to the team? What does fair mean anyway? Flip a coin. No, that's a cop-out. It's not like you don't have options. Make a decision and live with it, that's your job, Hudson.

This is going to be a short story, probably less than 5 chapters. I haven't seen any of season 4, just recaps from AVClub, so please forgive any mistakes I make.


	2. And It Cuts Like a Knife

**At Nationals**

"Congratulations, Finn." the sound of Rachel's voice still had the same effect on him. He looked at his cell phone at those big brown eyes, the auburn hair with it's new pixie cut, those lips he longed to kiss. Technically they're just friends but Valentine's day was no fluke. Endgame. Since then they've been spending hours on the phone, talking about New York, Nationals, the future.

"Thanks, Rachel, but the congratulations are really due to the team. They really pulled it out this time."

"Yes. It was..." she searched for the correct words to address the question of why he'd abandoned her carefully chosen set list. She and Kurt had worked so hard on that. Everybody back at NYADA thought her set list was great and hadn't the first one won them Regionals? "Different. Different from what we discussed."

"Yes. I know that – and Will agreed with you - but, as the director, that's what I decided to to do. To do something a little different. And we did go with a Broadway tune for our opening number." He reminded her.

"But you opened with Tina! Marley would have been..."

"But we made it to the next round, isn't that the point? I always knew Tina was like the MVP of New Directions. And Marley, she has two more years to perform. This was Tina's last chance and she nailed it." Finn's grin was ear to ear, visualizing Tina belting out "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from "Gypsy". It was a gamble but it worked. Everything's coming up rainbows and lollipops he hummed to himself.

"Well I can't argue with that. Where did you get the idea?"

"It was your idea to open with a big Broadway tune." Finn pointed out.

"I think I said ballad." She gently corrected him.

"And Kurt's always been a fan of Gypsy." Finn talked over her. "I've seen it a couple of times with him and I always liked how Mama Rose was half hysterical when she sang that song. Tina's been acting odd, really odd, lately so that song, well the emotion behind it, really fits. And like Will always says, singing it out really helps. Then when I picked the first song Mercy..."

"Mercy? Who's Mercy?"

"Mercedes. Mercedes Jones. You remember her."

"Oh." She remembered her old singing rival. "Was she there?"

"Well, Nationals are in Los Angeles this year and that's where she lives. Anyway she was in Lima a couple of months ago, something for her dad, and we grabbed a bite to eat, hung out with some friends of hers. Then she called me a couple of weeks later and asked me to help her with a course she was taking. A case study for a marketing course. She's really good, business is up 15%. I think I mentioned it before. Changes I made to the garage?"

"Ah yes, the garage." Rachel and Kurt both tuned out when Finn talked about the garage. "So you were talking with Mercedes about the garage?"

"Yes. That's when I mentioned Nationals and Everything's Coming Up Roses. Continuing the rose theme was her idea. Sting's Desert Rose, Seal's A Kiss From a Rose. She knew Artie knows Hebrew and figured he could learn Arabic. She even suggested Sam do Sting's vocal and Blaine for the final piece. Not that it was totally her idea, we discussed it." And that Mercedes really fought for Tina in particular and called Rachel's set list 'OK for Lima' was something Rachel didn't need to hear.

"Guess I can't argue with success." Rachel said grudgingly.

"I knew you'd see it that way." He beamed at his future wife. Endgame and they both knew it.

"I hear you guys are doing public performances all the time now?"

"Another idea from Mercy. She said you'd know all about this. Raising visibility, getting more practice for everybody. Some people are never going to sing lead at a competition. She said the least I can do is let them have the lead at a nursing home every now and then. And the kids," he laughed and Rachel wondered when was the last time she'd seen him in such a good mood. "Listen to me. I sound like an old man, but the kids really like it."

"Yeah, Mercedes!" Rachel said sarcastically. "By the way, what's that commotion behind you?"

Finn grinned again. "It's a Ferris wheel."

"A Ferris wheel?"

"Yes. We're in Santa Monica" He turned the phone so that Rachel could see the waterside entertainment pier. "It's Mercy's favourite place in the city and she said we really ought to see it while we're here. See, there's the Pacific Ocean," he re-aimed the cellphone camera "and the carousel, and the roller coaster, and..."

"Finn, stop! You're making me nauseous!"

"Sorry. So Rachel, when is school over? I haven't seen you in person in so long since you and Kurt were too busy to come home for spring break."

She smiled, glad that his attention was turned back to her. "Next month. I have to stay a couple of weeks to help Brody with incoming students and..."

"Brody?" His grey eyes clouded over.

"I mean," she launched into her explanation, "he moved out weeks ago but we're still working on this project together and..."

"Got it! So next month?" So Brody was still sniffing around. Well, she might as well get him out of her system. Endgame. "Listen Rachel, I have to go for a bit. We didn't have a place to practice for our presentation tomorrow, Will started looking around too late but Mercy found us a place. She's a personal assistant for this writer guy and he has a yoga studio and they let her..."

"A personal assistant? Not a singer?" Hah, Rachel thought to herself, I knew she'd never make it.

"She still sings but the assistant job comes with a place to live. It's really expensive out there and it's the only way so can afford to stay. Plus, this writer..."

Rachel was not at all interested in Mercedes' living arrangements. She had plenty of problems of her own to worry about. "Ok. Well I'll let you get going."

"Thanks, Rach. I need to round up the kids and get going. Talk to you later."

**later that afternoon**

So this is what a LA mansion looks like, Finn thought looking at the big house built in a boxy style. The house was adobe style, or so Blaine informed him, in that brown earth tone everything out here is when it isn't some crazy tropical color. The house was large and sprawling, with a dance studio on one side. That's where Mercedes lives. She had sent Finn pictures from her apartment over the studio with it's deck looking out at the ocean. Finn even recognized the person who opened the front door.

"Finn Hudson, you've got to be Finn. She said you were very tall." Of course he looked tall to the man in the wheelchair. Finn knew that Ben McKenna had been tall too, before the accident. The black man with dreadlocks backed this chair up so New Directions could get past him. "Welcome! I hope it didn't take too long to get here. Pretty good timing, I just finished making lunch."

"You made us lunch?" Will asked. "You didn't have to go through so much trouble. I mean, the use of your studio was more than enough."

"You must be Will." Ben offered his hand. "It was no trouble, really. Lunch for a crowd this size is nothing. Tim's a vegan chef, among other things, and you can thank him for the use of the studio."

"She's vegan now?" Sam asked, wondering why he even cared.

"Mercy and I are what you might call house vegans. We have to wait till Tim goes out of town to sneak out for burgers or ribs. I'd love to chat but I really have to get this finished." He wheeled himself to a desk near the window, letting them know they were dismissed. "Mercy's in the studio out back, through the kitchen. There's a ramp, totally accessible." He added in Artie's direction.

Most of the members of New Directions were distracted by the food laid out on the kitchen counter but Sam and Jacob rushed out to the studio. Jacob wanted to see a professional dance studio, Sam wanted to see...

Mercedes was standing in the room with two other dancers, a black woman with an impressive afro and an Asian man with a ponytail. They were standing at a barre, doing ballet exercises, stretches and whatnot, but the music wasn't classical. The music was slow and sad.

_So I've Learned That Love's Not Possession  
And I've Learned That Love Won't Wait  
Now I've Learned That Love Needs Expression  
But I Learned Too Late_

_She's Out Of My Life_  
_She's Out Of My Life_  
_Damned Indecision And Cursed Pride_  
_Kept My Love For Her Locked Deep Inside_

She was dressed simply, a loose tshirt and shorts, but Sam saw her the way he first saw her. The first time he really saw her, dress rehearsal for that waste-of-time Rocky Horror play.

"I don't know about all that groping." Mercedes said hesitantly. "I mean, I know that's how Schuester wants it but..."

"It's okay" Sam reassured her. He wasn't exactly looking forward to getting groped by a girl he barely knew either. "Don't you think it would better if you just touched my shoulder or something, like I was irresistible or something?"

She laughed nervously. "Or something. You ready?" She asked as she unbuttoned the lab coat she was wearing.

Normally in every thought Sam had of her, and the thought of her never lasted more than 10 seconds, she was walking hand-in-hand with 'for a big girl.' So now, when he looked at the black getup she was wearing he thought, kinda sexy, for a big girl. And when they went on-stage.

She was playing a mad scientist, Sam hadn't paid much attention to the script because the character he played, Rocky, doesn't talk much. In this particular scene all he had to do was stand there in gold shorts. He was thinking about how much he felt like a fool, standing there wearing only shorts, how cold the auditorium was, when he noticed Mercedes again. She was supposed to take the coat off before going onstage but kept it on for the whole scene. Nobody complained, just like she told Sam backstage, nobody wanted to see her in something skimpy. But what Sam noticed was that as she circled him on the stage he kept getting flashes of her thighs behind the labcoat. And that they were very shapely thighs. He was also surprised by the way she moved. He'd imagined, due to her size, that she would be clumsy and awkward. Like an elephant. But no, she moved with feline grace, like a big cat stalking it's prey. Like a panther, a black panther. And he noticed she was ignoring him and concentrating on the song she was singing. He looked at her face and decided her particular combination of chocolate skin and cherry lips was beautiful, on any girl.

Sam was supposed to stand there and look straight ahead but found he couldn't do it, he was too distracted by her thighs playing peek-a-boo with that lab coat, those dimply knees, those fuck-me boots. Fuck-me boots? Sam squeezed his eyes shut. Suddenly he felt her hand on his cheek. Instead of touching his shoulder she touched his cheek, turning his face towards hers and his eyes snapped open.

Just like in the movies the earth's rotation seemed to stall. The world stopped and interestingly enough the sound went off. The only thing he could hear was the pounding of his heart, and delayed by a faction of a second was the sound of another heartbeat. Hers? She stood there, staring at him in shock, the song she was singing completely forgotten. When the sound came back Sam heard yelling.

"What's going on up there?" Schuester called out.

"Nothing!" Mercedes lied, tearing her eyes away. "Static. Just static electricity." She took a step backwards.

"Keep going!" Schuester yelled.

"Got it!" she yelled back.

After that Sam flirted with her like crazy. He'd do imitations and she'd laugh but not the kind of laugh he normally gets from girls. Not the 'oh, you sexy dog' laugh but the 'stop it, fool' laugh. Sam had nearly figured out how to make sure she'd know he was flirting, not kidding, when a financial tsunami hit his family.

_And It Cuts Like A Knife  
She's Out Of My Life_

"Hey! It's Jacob, right?" She ran over to the two boys as the song died away. "Puck mentioned you, before he skipped on the rent. Color me shocked." She snickered. "It worked out though, everything worked out in the end. Jacob, Sam meet Tim and Alice. You must have met my boss Ben already, unless you broke in." she laughed nervously "Ben's husband and sister." She waved at the other dancers while she glanced at Sam and continued rambling. Tim and Alice shook hands on their way out. "We teach an exercise class, whichever one of us is around and we're just going over the choreography. Done now. Where is everybody?"

"Probably got distracted by food." Sam answered. Jacob just looked around, eyes wide. He'd seen plenty of dance studios in his time but never one like this. The mirrored walls he'd seen before but the view! The mirrors reflected the view from the wall of sliding glass doors. On the other side of the doors, the Pacifc Ocean. Right now the doors were open and the sound of waves crashing against the shore mingled with the sounds of people on the beach below the deck of the studio. Jacob plugged in his ipod and started doing stretches.

"You and Puck lived together?" Sam asked. He could tell she wanted to leave, the way she was edging her way out the door following Tim and Alice.

"For a while. Neither of us knew anybody here so it made sense to pool our resources."

"And you rented an apartment here?"

"Here? God no!" That same nervous laugh. "We could never afford someplace this nice. Where we lived was sketch-city. And then Puck bailed."

"How did you manage?" He asked, sincerely interested.

"Well, I had to give up the weave." She ran her hands through her shorter, natural hair. "You wouldn't believe how much fake hair costs. Then, trying to sneak into a class I wasn't enrolled in, I met Ben. He was giving a lecture and having trouble with his chair. Because of my grandma and Artie, well I'm pretty handy around a wheelchair so when Ben needed somebody full-time and I needed a place to live... Well, there you go." She paused for a few minutes. "And how are you?"

"Good." He nervously licked his lips. "Listen, I'm sorry the backing singer job didn't work out."

"It worked out, just not the way I thought it would. I mean, I ended up here." She spread her arm out to the view. "Everything always works out, eventually."

"Well," he huffed, "I still haven't seen the good side of being homeless."

"If you hadn't been homeless we would have never gone out."

"That's not true and you know it." He said firmly.

"Which part? The part about going out with me being a good thing? Maybe you didn't see it that way. Or the part about us, about that meaning something? Maybe that never was a thing, something that only existed only in my imagination."

"All of it." he said angrily. "All of it and you know it."

"Jesus Sam! Not that a keep track," she smiled at him because she had been keeping track. "But look at it. Quinn, Santana, Me. Quinn again, Britt and now Kitty." She smiled wryly. "Not that I'm keeping track. Anymore."

"I came all the way back to Ohio for you!"

"For me, for poor little me?" she sneered. "You came to Ohio for New Directions! And the fact that I was no longer in New Directions? How long did it take you to even notice? I was happy in the TroubleTones and you put an end to it! Did ya notice that?"

"Mercedes" He reached out for her. They had argued constantly and about everything the last couple of weeks before she suddenly left Lima.

"Sam! There you are!" Kitty called from the doorway.

"Oh look! It's your latest skinny white girl!" She said softly, too softly for Kitty to hear. "I gotta go." She walked out through the sliding glass doors to the deck.

* * *

_She's Out Of My Life – Michael Jackson_


	3. If Looks Could Kill

**At Nationals - Continued**

Victory lap. Finn couldn't believe he and Will were the directors watching their team perform this new tradition show choir tradition.

_I keep it steady 'cause steady that's how I do it _  
_(Jai ho) This beat is heavy so heavy you gonna feel it _  
_(Jai ho) You are the reason that I breathe _  
_(Jai ho) You are the reason I still believe _  
_(Jai ho) You are my destiny, Jai ho _  
_(Jai ho) No, there is nothin' that can stop us _  
_(Jai ho) Nothing can ever come between us _  
_(Jai ho) So come and dance with me,  
Jai ho_

Finn knew this was the end of the road for him as much as it was the end of Artie, Tina, Sam, Britt and Blaine. He was tired of fighting with Will. He glanced at Will Schuester, the man who had once meant so much to him, who was the father he never had. When Finn was part of New Directions he was inside the celebrated circle and never saw how the team worked. Now he saw how biased Will can be. Did the rest of the team fell neglected by the focus on the stars, the way Will wants to focus on Ryder and Marley?

Finn didn't know, will never know because he's done fighting with Will. Even this last song was a fight. Sure, they had already won and why not let Marley and Ryder have the spotlight but Finn felt he owed Tina big time. Gangnam Style was atrocious, and kinda racist Mercedes gently chided him, and Jai Ho is the song Tina wanted to do at the time. Finn regretting not going with his first impulse and taking Will's advice. Well, it's Will's team after this song and from now on Will can do what he wants, whatever the team lets him get away with. Finn is moving on to his new life with Rachel.

**A month later**

Mercedes looked around, damn if this wasn't the world's biggest record store. Three levels of music smack dab in the center of Manhattan. Hell, since she's here she might as well look up a little Broadway. She picked up a CD and started humming to herself.

"Mercedes!"

She looked up to see a beautiful sight, and angelic Kurt Hummel beaming at her. He'd put on a few pounds since she last saw him, making him even more beautiful in her eyes. "Kurt! What are you doing here?"

"I live here, babe!" he giggled. "I should ask you that skinny girl. You're pretty far from LA."

"Skinny is relative, babe. By LA standards a size 8 is still massively obese but thanks for noticing. I'm here for work."

"A singing gig?" he asked excitedly. "Tell me where and when and I'll buy up all the tickets."

"I'm singing with Tim, my boss's husband, tonight at a small club but really I'm here for work. Ben, my boss, had to come out here to do some promotion work. Pimping his book is what he calls it. Tim came too and singing an opening set makes it a deductible business trip. They gave me the afternoon off and I'm leaving for Ohio tomorrow. I'll catch up with them in Columbus next week."

"Finn said you're a personal assistant. What exactly does that mean?"

"It depends. I've met people who work for real douches but I got lucky. Ben can be a little moody but mostly he just needs an extra pair of hands, somebody to drive and carry stuff if he has to go out. He's teaching me how to do research for his books. That's kind of fun. At home he doesn't need much help at all, the house is set up for him. And when Tim's home he takes care of everything like any married couple." She looked at her friend with concern. "I tried to tell you I'd be in town today. That's why I called you last week? I didn't mention it because you seem preoccupied. Distracted?"

"Last week?" Kurt racked his brain. Oh, right. Last week. "I'm sorry, I got a piece of unexpected news."

"You okay?" She asked, putting here hand on his arm. "You look tired. School okay?"

"School's fine. It's just, like I said, unexpected news."

"Burt was sick a while ago, wasn't he? Is he okay."

"Yes, the family's all fine. Thanks for asking but it's nothing." He rubbed his hands together, changing the subject. "So you're singing tonight?"

"Yes. Ben's got friends everywhere, from back in the day, and he got Tim and me a gig opening for a friend of his. It's a short set but it's in New York."

"Ben was musician?" Kurt tried to remember the story Blaine told him.

"Yes. Ben and his sister Alice are guitarists. Really good, I'll send you a clip of them playing. They did a lot of session work and big tours. That's how he met his husband, Tim. Tim's a backing singer and they met on a tour. They were already dating when Ben had a freak accident, a scaffold collapsed during a show. It was tough for him. Of course it would be tough on anybody but he was one of those jump around all over the stage type guitarist. But you move on, you know?"

"Yes." Kurt's blue eyes clouded over for a second. "You move on. And speaking of that, how are you? Dating anybody?"

"Not really but now that I'm skinny, kind of, men that wouldn't give me the time of day are circling like vultures."

"It's not like back in high school nobody ever looked twice at you."

"Whatever." It was her turn to change the subject. "You got a couple of minutes for a cup of coffee? If we discuss music I can use it for a tax write-off."

"You make enough from singing to pay taxes?"

"One day, babe. One day."

"Well that makes two of us." The two old friends linked arms.

**late that night**

Mercedes listened to Kurt snoring in the other bed in this hotel room. She was happy to see him show up at her show, surprised Rachel didn't come along - sick Kurt informed her, and impressed with the plus-one he did show up with. A cute blonde, Kurt was a magnet for cute guys, he knew from back home. Chandler was a theatre major at NYU and full of stories. Stories about Lima, stories about Philadelphia where he lived before that, stories about places he and Kurt hang out in Manhattan. After 30 minutes Mercedes realized she knew about Chandler than she knew about Blaine, and she's known Blaine for two years. Kurt explained that when he first got here Rachel and Chandler were the only people he knew. Yeah, she'd hang with Chandler too.

Also surprising was her visit to Chandler's dorm room, where Kurt apparently spent a lot of time.

"Too much drama over at the loft." Chandler stage whispered. Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Santana moved in. She just freaking moved in!" Kurt sighed and plopped on Chandler's roommate bed. "Chandler's roommate is in Africa for a work study for the semester so I've been hiding here. Not that anybody's noticed. Rachel, Santana and more of Quinn and Brody than I care to see."

Brody Finn had mentioned before but "Quinn?"

"Quinn." He rolled his eyes again. "But enough of that. You said you're driving back to Lima? By yourself?"

"Yes and yes." She grinned and looked at the suitcase at the foot of the bed. "And I would love company."

**The next morning**

Brody sat in the diner near the loft, watching silent tears run down Rachel's cheeks. Not that big ugly cry she does for dramatic effect, but a deep, truly heartbroken to the depth of her soul cry. Instead of analyzing her, storing this in his memory in case he needed it for a role, he should be reassuring her. He didn't love her, they had both acknowledged that, but he did still care about her and he suddenly realized he should show that. He reached across the table.

If looks could kill. Of course he'd heard that expression before but he'd never seen the actual look that could kill. Today he did. Smokey-eyed Santana, who was sitting on one side of Rachel, gave the look of a woman who would take you to Hawaii, hijack a helicopter and drop you into the nearest volcano. Icy blue-eyed Quinn, sitting on the other side, gave the look of a woman who would take you to Alaska, smear you with fish guts and drop you naked on glacier with a pack of polar bears. He definitely needed to memorize those looks he thought as he pulled his hand back.

"It's just a fertilized egg. Remember that." Santana said, ignoring Brody again.

"It's not an egg. It's a baby. Remember that." Quinn said.

"Look at your plate." She pointed to Quinn's scrambled eggs. "Is that a chicken dinner?"

"It would have been." Quinn said stubbornly, pushing her plate aside.

"Yeah, but it ain't, is it?" Santana turned her attention back to Rachel. "It's a perfectly legal medical procedure."

"It's a baby! A Christmas miracle!" Quinn said as Brody rolled his eyes.

"More like Halloween." Rachel whispered, the first thing she's said all morning.

"Halloween?" Brody asked. "Halloween?"

"That's what they said, down at the clinic a couple of weeks ago. If I...if I don't..." She was speaking so softly all three young adults at the table had to strain to hear. "Mid November, plus or minus two weeks."

There was stunned silence as the three did a piece of mental math Rachel never had. Ok, Santana thought, she's still in the first trimester. Ok, Quinn thought, she's known about this for a couple of weeks. If she was as set on abortion as she says she is it would be all over by now. Hell no, Brody thought.

"So you got pregnant in February?" He asked. Quinn and Santana noticed the anger in his voice. February, so what?

"Yes." Rachel answered.

"Mid February?" No answer from Rachel. "Ohio? Freaking Ohio?"

Brody labelled the look on Rachel's face as 'busted'. In fact it was horror sprinkled with a dash of embarrassment. Mortification.

"And you tried to pawn this off on me? I can't believe you! Who does that?" Quinn coughed nervously and Santana snickered despite the gravity of the situation. Brody missed both reactions as he lept to his feet. "Who does that?" he repeated just in case Rachel missed it the first time. Then he started to make his drama queen exit.

"Whoa!" Santana jumped up. "You're buying us breakfast. Remember?"

Brody threw two twenties on the table. "And that's the last thing I'm paying for!"

Good riddance douche-bag, Quinn and Santana both thought to themselves.

"How could you forget a critical detail like that?" Quinn asked later, cradling a sobbing Rachel in her arms as they sat on the sofa back at the loft.

"I didn't FORGET, forget. I realized I was late, I took the test, I panicked. Brody is, I guess was, my boyfriend."

"I think it's definitely was." Quinn wanted to slap Rachel but now's not the time. "This changes everything, you know. You have to tell Finn."

"No. This changes nothing. My body, my choice. Right Santana?"

Santana put the tray with the three cups of tea she'd just prepared on the coffee table. "Mostly yes." Rachel let out her breath. "But much as I hate to admit it, Quinn's right. You should tell Finn." She glared at Quinn. "Stop gloating, I just said you're right on this one particular point. Listen to me Rachel. We all know how Quinn feels, it's a baby the second that sperm barged into that egg, uninvited. We all know how I feel, a first trimester abortion is legal and moral and your own business. We all know how Brody felt, he doesn't want a kid and doesn't care how. Here's what we don't know. Finn's the possible father. " Rachel started to object. "I agree, he can't make you or stop you from doing what you want but he has a right to know. Two, none of use knows how you feel. How you really feel. Rachel, you have to make a decision and own it. Not Quinn, not me, not Brody and not Finn. You, Rachel Berry."

**Meanwhile, in central Pennsylvania**

A long car ride with an old friend can make you wonder. it can make you wonder why you were friends in the first place, what you ever saw in them, how they can stand to listen to that crap. Now, looking at Mercedes through half open eyes, Kurt wondered what he was thinking when he let their friendship die. There must have been a reason and he can't keep blaming Rachel and Blaine. Actually, this is one thing he can't blame on Blaine at all and Rachel was just being Rachel. He should have put more effort into maintaining their friendship he realized.

"You know, I always envied the way you could sleep in a car." Mercedes said when she realized he was awake.

"You used to get carsick." He laughed at the memory. "Remember that trip to Georgia and your grandfather? It took forever cause we had to stop every half hour."

"Luckily I outgrew that. They all send their regards by the way."

"Oh, that's so sweet! You spent the summer there, right?"

"Yup. Just like old times, except for the ice cream. My cousin tried to make vanilla ice cream. Your mom spoiled me for anybody else's vanilla ice cream. Nobody makes it like Miss Elizabeth used to."

"You want to try it, Mercedes?" How could he have walked away from the one friend who had known his mother, tasted her prize wining ice cream? "I know her cookbook is in the house, I saw it last time I was home. Please?"

* * *

PUSSYCAT DOLLS - JAI HO


	4. Put A Message In A Bottle Baby

"Good morning, sunshine!" Mercedes greeting out to her old friend Kurt Hummel as he opened his front door.

"Good morning yourself." Kurt answered back. "I've got the cookbook and the ice cream maker."

"And I have milk and eggs." She shuddered. "Vegans! I intend to dine on a member of the animal kingdom every day that I'm here. Rachel's a vegan, isn't she?"

"Yes, but I'm here to get away from thinking about Rachel. It's time for friends and family, not Kurt in the land of 101 roommates."

"Good enough." She put down the bag of groceries she was holding. "And I'm only a vegan due to laziness. I could cook if I want to."

"That's one, the only, good thing about Santana barging in like she owns the place. Girl can cook, I'm glad of that. I guess I ought to mention it before we get started." He looked at Mercedes uncertainly. "Sam's coming back sometime today, so if you want to work on this back at your house..."

"Typical Sam, always showing up unexpectedly. I don't have a problem with Sam, we talked at Nationals. I don't know why some folks think just because you have history with somebody you can hit it anytime you both happen to be in the same town. Once we got that cleared up..." She looked at Kurt's beet red face. "Or maybe I'm wrong about how many folks think that. Is Blaine likely to come strolling out of the shower? I'm definitely gonna tell Chandler," she joked "because I'm thinking he's bi. He did a lot of staring at the club the other night and I've got a thing for blondes."

"Jesus, babe. Where to start? Chandler and I? Ain't going there." He smiled in a way that made her want to follow up on that subject. "And yes, Chandler does occasionally sleep with girls, but mostly guys. Don't judge but I know that from personal experience. And no, Blaine's not here but the last time I saw him was Valentine's day and we both had a bit to drink and one thing led to another..."

"You mean Schuester's train-wreck wedding? Hell, was I the only person in Lima who didn't get laid that night?"

"What, you're keeping score?"

"No, but now that you mention it I should check in with Tina and see if she got any." She spread the ingredients she'd purchased on the kitchen table. "I talk to Finn every now and again and he keeps going on about his endgame. That's what he calls Rachel, endgame. So what about the guy she's shacked up with I asked. Wild oats, he said. Just a matter of time before Rachel comes to her senses and kicks him to the curb. He's sure because the night of the almost wedding one thing led to another. You know how that story ends."

"Hmmmm." Kurt said noncommittally. "So you're not going to get flirty and/or murderous when Sam walks in?"

"Like I said, we've talked more in the last month than we have since..." she thought about it. "Maybe not since I've known him but definitely since the last time he breezed into town. Shit, another time he thought he'd show up out of nowhere and pick up where we left off."

"But you two got back together, right? It wasn't like it was a one night thing he had in mind."

"Suppose so." It was her turn to be vague.

"Well, speak of the devil." Kurt nodded at Sam as he walked in.

"Hey Kurt." Sam put his backpack down on the kitchen floor. "Mercedes. You look pretty. Like the hair." He nodded in her direction before opening the refrigerator.

"Thanks. How was Kentucky?"

"Great! They all said hey. The twins got the presents you sent. Expect a thank you card in the mail. Don't laugh at the artwork because I drew it. It's supposed to be an elephant, they're both into elephants this year."

"Indian or African?"

"African but why aren't I surprised that you know the difference?"

She shrugged. "I just always liked elephants."

"So what brings you to town?"

"A wedding. My brother's getting married Saturday and my boss scheduled something in Columbus for right after that."

"A wedding?" Sam sat down next to her at the kitchen table with a glass of orange juice. "Shit! You're not the singing sister are you?"

"The singing sister?" She laughed. "Nobody's ever called me that before."

"No, I'm serious. I'm a wedding singer for a company out of Columbus. I never met them, the couple getting married, my boss deals with all that. But the groom's sister sings and is from out of town."

"Yeah, but there's lots of weddings, probably not the same one."

"Marc and JoAnne on Friday night at the Lima Country Club?"

"Yeah." She answered glumly. "That would be them."

Sam had been worried that he'd have to cover for some girl who couldn't carry a tune. Now he was worried about losing the gig entirely. "If me being there is awkward for you they can get somebody else to do this job."

"That's silly. Why shouldn't you do it? It's a job and you're one of the best singers I know, present company excepted." She added for Kurt's benefit. "I talked to Marc, by the way, you're more than welcome to crash the wedding."

"Can't. I need to get back to New York on the cheap. Hitched a ride with Finn but we're leaving Friday." Kurt didn't look pleased at all.

"Really?" Sam asked. "Finn didn't mention it and he's usually good about that."

"Rachel called him last night and asked him to come visit us." Again with the frown Mercedes noticed. What is wrong with him? Oh well, she'll pry it out of him later.

"Endgame." Sam and Mercedes said at the same time.

**Friday night**

"What do you think of that wedding singer?" Annie Monroe reached over a speared a shrimp from Mercedes' plate. "God, he's hot! Do you think he's gay?"

Mercedes looked at her new sister-in-law, a 22 year old raven haired Native American beauty. Even in the bright blue bridesmaid dress Annie's trim athletic body was evident to anybody. She was definitely Sam's type, even though Sam claims he's sworn off girls in favor of concentrating on earning money for college expenses next year.

"He's not gay." Hilary, Mercedes's cousin and bridesmaid sitting on the other side of her answered with a smirk. "Mercy knows that for a fact."

"Spill!" Annie demanded. "I'm family now."

"You've been family for 10 years, it just took this long for Marc to drag Jo down the aisle." She stared at Sam until Annie shoved her arm. "He's a friend from school."

"A friend from high school? That increases his odds of being gay." Annie decided on a roundabout approach. "Whatever happened to that guy you used to bring down to the farm?"

"He lives in New York." Yes, she thought, let's talk about Kurt. "He has this great loft, and he's in this special performing arts school, and..."

"Ok!" Annie held up her well-manicured hand. "You're boring me. What's his name?"

"Kurt?"

"You know I don't give a damn about Kurt! I'm talking about Goldie there."

"Sam." Hilary filled in Mercedes' silence. "His name's Sam. They used to go out."

"Girl! You let something that looks like that and sounds like that get away? What the fuck?" She considered Sam some more. "And you're sure he's not gay or bi or something?"

"Totally gay, no. Bi? I don't think so. He's only dated girls that I know of."

"See, here's the thing." The three girls leaned close together. "I got here early to help set up and he was here too, setting up amps and shit. So of course I changed into shorts and a tank top and offered to help him. Mom had a fit because I was supposed to be helping her. Anyway, I'm crawling around on the floor, pushing my boobs in his face, making sure he got a good look at my ass, and nothing. He's totally ignoring me. That creepy little waiter, on the other hand..."

"Jacob. His name is Jacob and he can't help it if he comes from a long line of players."

"How old is he? 13? I'm not about getting arrested for statutory rape." Annie declared.

"16. I think. Yeah, maybe you better leave that alone." She pointed to Puck standing at the carving station. "How about that one? His older brother and total man-whore. Believe me, he'll catch a hint. No, maybe you'd better leave that alone too. God knows where it's been. Shit, can't you do without for one night?"

"Suppose I'll have to." Annie focused on the singer providing background ambiance for the dinner portion of the reception. How could Mercedes sit there like nothing when her ex has been standing there crooning love songs for the last hour and a half? He wants a woman, a lover, a friend does he? Well, Annie figures she could provide two out of three on his list and she would too if it wasn't for her new sister. Sexy guys really aren't that rare and Mercedes is family.

"I gotta say he's way better looking than that guy you dragged out of the woods last summer."

"Annie!" Mercedes looked around to see if anyone had overheard. No, the guest were too busy eating and catching up with friends and family. Marc and Jo went all the way back to the summer of senior year in highschool. Before that even because Marc and Mercedes spent every summer at their grandfather's farm in Georgia where Jo and Annie lived next door, so this was more like a family reunion than strangers meeting for the first time. "A – he wasn't some random guy I found in the woods and B – people here know him and he's kinda embarrassed about the whole thing."

"My bad. All I'm saying is this one's cute. That other one, well he was okay once you got him cleaned up but he wasn't much for conversation."

"He was depressed, he'd just gotten kicked out of the army!" Mercedes whispered. "Can we just drop that?"

"Sure. Just please, please, please tell me you're not going another round with Drew."

"A girl could do a lot worse." A tall groomsman sitting next to Annie said.

"She's family now, little brother." Annie stood up and pulled one of the groomsmen to his feet. "Let's get this party started."

**On the other side of the room**

"You hanging around for the rest of this?" Tom Jenkins asked, peering at the soundboard in front of him. "They just wanted you for background music, right?"

"Yeah, the want recorded music for the dancing part. I figured I'd stay and help you out on breaks and stuff. Plus I wanted to hear the best woman sing."

"Best woman!" Tom chuckled. "First time I've seen that. At first I thought she was a lost bridesmaid."

"Kinda sweet, don't you think?" Actually Mercedes in a strapless black dress and sporting a blue necktie to match the groomsmen was the hottest thing Sam had ever seen.

"No. I've got a sister getting married next year. Man of honor? I don't think so. She'd put me in a dress just for spite." Tom looked up at the singers. "She's good, the sister. Had me worried at first, that she'd be bad and the guests would blame us."

"No, she's fantastic, isn't she?" Sam watched while Mercedes and a dark-haired groomsmen led the bridal party in acapella version of "Always." Everybody else watched Marc and Jo's first dance. Sam stared at Mercedes, lost in that summer of junior year.

_Girl, you are to me, all that a woman should be,  
And I dedicate my life to you always.  
_

_Oh boy I love you so,  
I can't find enough ways to let you know  
But you can be sure I'm yours, for always _

_And we both know, that our love will grow  
And forever it will be you and me  
Ooh you're like the sun,  
Chasing all of the rain away,  
When you come around you bring a brighter day  
You're the perfect one  
For me and you forever will be  
And I will love you so for always_

"You know her?" Tom asked, distracting him.

"Huh?"

"Do you know her, from all that singing you did in highchool?"

"Know her?" Puck suddenly appeared behind them, "They went at it hot and heavy."

"Shut up Puck."

"And suddenly, just like that. It was all over. Then a year later, one conversation with her and he's turning down all this, a room full of soon to be drunken bridesmaids."

"Shut up, Puck!"

"Oh, I'm so afraid." Puck said sarcastically. "More for me." He eyed the raven haired girl standing next to Mercedes. "I'm sure I won't go home empty handed."

And it didn't look like Mercedes was going home empty handed either, the way that groomsman she'd sang a duet with kept chasing her all night, grinding up against her every time he caught her. And she let herself get caught, Sam noticed as he watched them slow dance to...he looked at Tom's monitor. More Atlantic Starr, Send For Me.

_If you ever need me baby, send for me  
I'm just a telephone call away, send for me  
Put a message in a bottle baby, send for me_

He was whispering in her ear and she was giggling. So what Sam thought. She's a friend and he's happy for her. Woulda, coulda, shoulda is a waste of time.

**After the reception**

Sam sat in the passenger side of Tom's van, dividing tonight's tip. Mercedes' brother was an excellent tipper, probably because his sister's in the business so between the tip and the referrals sure to come his way it had been, all in all, a great night.

He was surprised to see a familiar car pull into the parking lot. "Hey!" Mercedes, now dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, breezed past him and into the empty reception hall. Sam looked around for the dark-haired groomsman, who'd been introduced to him as her new brother-in-law, but she was alone.

"Everything okay?" Sam asked, following her back into the hall after saying goodbye to Tom.

"Yeah, sure. When I got home I realized I lost my phone." She peered under the table she'd been sitting at. "Got it!" She crawled under the table to reach the phone.

Sam crawled under the table with her.

"You're getting to get your suit all dirty." Mercedes laughed.

"That's okay. This just reminds me of playing hide and seek with Stevie and Stacey. Remember how much fun that was?"

"Yes." She slipped the phone into her coat pocket. "That was a lot of fun." She started to crawl out from under the table.

"Wait a minute." He reached for her arm "Since we're here, sitting under this dark table, I want to say something. I remember you used to like that, talking in the dark." Dimly he saw her shrug her shoulders and sit down. "Thanks. First, I want to apologize"

"For what?"

"For not listening to you, for not hearing what you tried to say when I came back to Lima."

"Sam, that's ancient history."

"Maybe so but I still want to apologize. You were 100% for me, always and about everything and the one time you asked me for something..."

"Sam, it doesn't matter anymore..."

"The one time you asked me for something I said no. When I came back to Lima you tried to tell me what being in the TroubleTones meant to you and you asked me, you said if last spring meant anything, I'd sit out the competition. That Schuester would have time to draft another random kid, somebody else who needed extra credit in Spanish. You never asked me for anything before but you asked me for that. And I said no. I made up some lame excuse about owing Finn. And when you asked a second time I said if last spring meant anything you'd dump Shane. I'm sorry for saying that because it wasn't true and I knew it at the time. How could you dump Shane? He listened to you. He was there for you after the competition. I saw you guys standing there after the winner was announced, trying to stay classy. And when you left the stage Shane was standing there with flowers. How could you just dump somebody like that? And later, after we tried to start over? Well, if you weren't ready to have sex again you weren't ready. I shouldn't have gotten an attitude and slut-shamed you over Shane. I'm the one that left after all. Anyway, I'm sorry about all that. I didn't realize how much that whole thing hurt you until we talked in LA."

"And talking to me for ten minutes in LA made you see all that?" she asked skeptically.

"Not just that. That was the last piece in the puzzle. One piece of winning class president. That surprised me, I always knew I was likeable, not to brag but I'm pretty easy to like." Mercedes snorted at that. "But so is Britt so winning was about something more than that. Trust. After last year kids don't trust Britt anymore but for the first time I felt like people respected me, trusted me to make the right decision. The second thing was Marley. She got sick at sectionals but actually she was sick before that. I asked her why she didn't say something earlier and she said it was because we only have 12 members. She didn't want to be the one that made up have to forfeit. It turns out she was the one but I can't hate her for having issues, God knows I can't. Anyway, Patrice? I know you know her and she was my math tutor last semester. Well, she was also in Troubletones and I asked her why she didn't come back for New Directions. Even a handful of dancers would be a big buffer. So, she had a couple of reasons for not coming back, most of which relate back to you."

Mercedes visualized Patrice, a tall black girl who danced for the Troubletones, the first girl Mercedes had recruited for Shelby, one of the few that wasn't a Cheerio.

"First she wondered why I was asking her that, so late in the school year. If we gave a damn about them we would have gone to them in September is how she saw it so she figured I brought it up because I wanted to pad our numbers. Patrice said she never really felt like she was in New Directions because she's just a dancer." Sam continued. "I asked what was wrong with being a dancer and she said Schuester didn't want kids who only danced. He wanted singers who didn't fall of the stage, even if they never were going to get a chance to sing, even though he wasn't interested in teaching them how to sing. That you were the best singer in New Directions and if Schuester had his way you'd never get to sing more than two notes in a row. Schuester only wanted singers and Finn was following Schuester's rules. She was particularly irritated about those guys from band Schuester recruited last year when he needed to get to 12 members. One of them was her boyfriend and she said he felt used when the competition was over and we all went back to ignoring him. She said you and Shelby always treated them with respect, like they were important, part of a team. After Nationals when Schuester took us out and you said you felt too sick to go? She told me that you hung out with them instead and how much they liked you for that, that you were nice even when you didn't have to be. You know, not one member of New Directions even noticed they weren't there. But even with all that I didn't see the whole picture until you mentioned the Troubletones when we talked in LA. Then, finally, I understood what you'd been trying saying the whole time. I saw how you felt about them, how they felt about you, what an ass I am. Sorry."

Mercedes stared at Sam, speechless. Hadn't she spent half the night explaining to Annie how immature and superficial Sam was? And she hadn't even started in on that idiotic Mayan marriage. Who was the man, sitting there showing depth and insight!

"Well, that's it." Sam crawled out from under the table and held out his hand to help her up. "You mind doing me one last favor? Can I hitch a ride home? If you have some time we could talk."

Mercedes took his hand as she rose to her feet. "Yes, we could talk, or something."

* * *

Always, Send for Me - Atlantic Starr


	5. Whataya Want From Me?

Mercedes feigned sleep, listening to Sam's barely audible snoring, the tickle of his breath against the back of her neck, the pressure of his hand cupping her breast. Was last night a mistake? No. No promises, no regrets. Surely he understood that. He snores. Not loud and obnoxious like Puck, not that she ever slept with Puck. No, she's not Puck's type but that dive apartment with paper-thin walls didn't hide any of the sounds of Puck. Snoring she could drown out with music but that other shit? Mercedes couldn't understand how Puck attracted so many women in a big city like LA. Lima? Sure, but girls don't know any better in LA?

Heck, why is she wasting her time thinking about Puck? Mercedes hated to do this but it was time for compare and contrast. Because she didn't have a long list of guys to compare Sam to it wouldn't take very long so she took them in order.

Sam. To be honest, she hadn't enjoyed it that much. She was a virgin so it was painful, they were in the backseat of her car so she was anxious about somebody seeing, and she was fat. She was convinced Sam was just biding his time until his financial situation improves. So why did she sleep with him? Well look at him, that's why. Who'd say no to that?

Shane. Okay, maybe his initial attraction was being totally unlike Sam in every possible way but Shane legitimately adored her. In contrast to what seemed like being Sam's shameful secret, with Shane she felt like a girlfriend, a honest-to-god girlfriend and yeah, maybe she was depressed about losing to New Directions but Shane was standing there with a bouquet of red roses, he treated the Troubletones to dinner cause they're winners in his book, and that night, alone at Shane's house? Well yeah, why the hell not? It wasn't half bad either, though just being in a bed might have been a big factor there.

Sam and a half. Neither one of them knew it at the time but mutual immaturity ruined that relationship. She was still angry about the competition, which Sam didn't realize. He was jealous of Shane, which Mercedes didn't understand. "Did Shane teach you that?" he'd asked her at the worse possible time. Right in the middle of a makeout session after the prom. Who does that? That's why she thinks of him as Sam and a half and wondered why should she start up with him again since she's leaving town anyway?

Drew. totally weird since she's known him forever but she was in a good place during that relationship. Good riddance Ohio! Drew taught her that 90% of good sex is psychological. Once that's in place sex can be damned fun. The deadline buried in their relationship, the fact that come September he'd be back at Hopkins and she'd be at UCLA was more a 'why not' than the 'why should I' it had been in her relationship with Sam. Drew was the standard every other man would have to measure up to.

Morgan. Fricking nightmare. Well, she did learn a valuable lesson, good sex can't counteract a toxic relationship with a jealous, possessive control-freak of a boy. At 25 Morgan was still a boy in every way that counted.

Sam two. Much as she hated to say it, Sam was freaking awesome in bed and that plus the lack of drama and resentment put last night in the 'not a mistake' category. Drew definitely would have competition if she was staying in Ohio. Not! She snuggled closer to him and went back to sleep.

**several hours later**

Sam stopped staring at the naked woman in his bed, dressed quickly, pulled out his sketchbook and resumed staring at Mercedes. He didn't draw her body, that struck him as an invasion of privacy without asking her first, but there was plenty to document without focusing on the obvious. Her black braids fanned out on the white pillowcase. The curve of her cheek, half hidden in the braids. Her brown leg peeking out of the sheets. Even her feet with their bright blue pedicure.

He settled on sketching her face, the better to notice the moment she woke but evidently she wasn't one of those people who spent a long time in the transition between sleep and wake. She was definitely asleep when he turned around to get his charcoal pencils but he found himself staring into her deep brown eyes when he looked back.

"What are you doing?" She asked suspiciously, sitting up and wrapping the sheets around her.

"Drawing."

"Can I see?" She held out her hand. "Please?"

"Sure." He handed the sketchpad to her on his way out of the room. "Take you time. I'll be right back."

Mercedes flipped through the book, making sure Sam hadn't drawn any naked pictures of her. Not that she thought he would but she figured she should check anyway. No naked pictures. Sam seemed to be focusing on portraits. There was one of every member of New Directions, his family, a couple of girls she didn't recognize. Just then Sam walked in carrying a tray.

"Breakfast in bed." he said with a broad smile. "Don't judge me on the quality, I've never done this before."

"Never? Not even for..." She decided to take him at his word. "Well I guess that makes me special." she said instead.

"You're definitely special." He whipped the cover from the tray and revealed a bowl of cheerios and a glass of milk. "Tada!"

"Thank you." She picked up a handful of cheerios.

"You eat those dry?"

"Usually. You can have the milk if you want. I've developed a taste for soymilk."

Sam sat on the bed next to Mercedes. "So, do you have plans for later today?"

"Yes, sorry." She reached over him for her cellphone on the nightstand, giggling when he grabbed her breast on the way by. "House full of cousins, in-laws and assorted randoms. My mom's gonna kill me if I don't get home by 11 to help feed them."

"Then what?" He asked hopefully.

"Then I have to drive them down to Columbus to the airport. Then it's back to work."

"Work?"

"Yes. Ben's got some interviews for his book. Ohio, Chicago. Then we fly out west and end up back home. Couple of weeks." She tried to turn on her phone. Dead.

"That's a lot of travel."

"It's not typical. Normally I'm only driving back and forth to school."

"UCLA?"

"No, I'm not going back next year. Finances. Ben got a teaching job at a small college near home. I can take courses there at a deep discount thanks to that. It doesn't have the reputation UCLA has but Santa Monica's a nice little school."

"Santa Monica College?" He asked, hope returning.

"Yes." She stood up, letting the sheet drop to the floor. That's something she would have never done before, let him see her naked. She gathered her clothes from the floor as Sam watched. She wasn't skinny, she was far from skinny. She had more of an hourglass figure, ample breasts and hips and a narrow waist. Sam learned in art class that her kind of figure that was popular in the 40s and 50s as opposed to the boyish figure that's the standard of beauty nowadays. "I'm surprised you heard of it."

"I'm going there." He announced proudly.

"Really?" It was not the reaction he expected. She looked disturbed. "Really?" She quickly pulled on her jeans. "Really?" She repeated.

"Yes, really. Why's that a problem?"

"No problem. You'll like it there. I'm just wondering how you can afford that." She mumbled. "That's all."

"Burt helped me. I mean, it wasn't a personal favor for me, constituent services its called. He has someone in his office just to help people with problems. I got a scholarship, based on my family history and all. So since I'll be in LA maybe we could..."

"Sam," She took a deep breath. "I don't mean to be cruel but last night? It was fantastic, really fantastic but I didn't really see it as hitting the reset button."

"So this was a drive-by?" He asked angrily.

"No." She said sadly. "It's just..." She stared up at the ceiling. "Let's face it, I'm not your type."

"Not my type." Sam considered that. "Then why do you think I asked you to stay the night?"

"I don't know. Why did you?" She was fully dressed now and standing by the door, ready to leave.

"What the hell were we talking about for three hours last night? I want to be with you."

"I'm sorry Sam, that's not what I want." She left him sitting on the bed.

**Much later that afternoon**

"It's like she's this totally different person-or more like she's two different people at the same time. One of them is fearless, get outta my way." Sam watched Lima disappear in the rear view mirror. "But the minute I mentioned LA she's all..." He raised his voice in a falsetto and flipped his hair. "Oh Sam, forget it, I'm not your type."

"Not your type, she said?" Blaine asked as he steered his SUV towards Columbus. "Well, she's probably right about that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam snapped.

"All the girls you've gone out with kinda fit a particular type. White, thin. Like Britt, they all kinda look alike."

"Darcy wasn't white."

"Who?" Blaine racked his brain.

"Darcy! Darcy from swim team? I brought her to your pool party last summer? She's black."

"Oh, her." Blaine visualized a tanned girl with long brown hair. "I thought she was Middle Eastern or something."

"No, she's black. Well, well mom was half and her dad's white, but she considers herself black."

"Nobody's mistaking Mercedes for anything but black. I thought Darcy was white, heck Santana had a darker tan, and she's thin so you're just proving the point. But anyway, I thought Mercedes had a boyfriend."

"What?"

"I said, I thought you said she had a boyfriend. That he was at the wedding, singing love songs and such."

"I thought he was at the time. Drew, Andrew, is his name and he's an ex-boyfriend. Last summer. You probably don't remember but she went to Georgia to visit relatives right after graduation?"

"Right, I mean right, I don't remember that."

"Well, she used to talk about losing weight sometimes. Actually she talked about it a lot the closer she got to graduation. I find that when girls talk about weight it's best just to say nothing. If you say they look fine they call you a liar. If you offer to help them they say you're calling them fat. And for god's sake don't say 'more to love'. I never cared about it one way or the other but apparently she was serious and spent the whole summer working out. Drew was her running buddy" Sam remembered how she used to hate exercise, especially running in circles for no reason as she called it.

"And then they started dating?"

"Yeah."

"But they're not dating anymore?"

"No. She said they both had stuff they wanted to get done first and besides they live too far apart."

"He lives in Georgia?"

"No. Actually he lives in Baltimore. He's a doctor."

"Really? He's that old?"

"He's in medical school, sports medicine, so he was glad to try out what he'd learned in school. Then they got to trying out other stuff. Not that I needed to know all that but we'd broken up way before then and it's not like Britt and I..."

"I don't need details." Blaine interrupted.

"Whatever. So neither of them can make a commitment because Dr dreamboat wants to finish medical school and she wants a Grammy."

"And she has a plan to do that?"

"Her boss has a lot of connections. Apparently that's the biggest part of show business success, connections, and she's been doing small shows, parties. Said that kind of thing gives her visibility. She said it's coming along, the singing and all. She says..." Sam laughed "You probably don't give a damn what she said." Sam stopped to listen to the song being played on Blaine's mp3 player. "Is that them?"

"Yup. Coop's all about them." He listened to the indie band they were headed to see for a few minutes. "They're out of LA, where Cooper lives, and they're just starting to get some traction. He got these tickets months ago, acting like he was doing me such a great favor. He's seen them so many times it's like he's a groupie or something. I bet he's missing hearing them more than he misses being with me."

"He loves you man, you know that." Sam lightly punched Blaine's shoulder.

"Probably." Blaine stared straight ahead, jaw clenched.

"Hey, speaking of that. You, Kurt, New York. What did he say when you told him you got into NAYDA?"

"Oddly enough, he acted like he didn't give a damn." Blaine gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"Really?"

"He's all, that's nice, gotta go. I don't know what's up with him lately. I mean, at Valentine's day it's all sunshine and rainbows. Now he acts like he can't get off the phone fast enough."

"Well..." Sam said noncommittally. Apparently Blaine missed the part when he described the brush-off he got from Mercedes.

"I bet he's making out with Chandler right now." Blaine was saying.

"Who's Chandler?"

"Remember that guy he was semi-cheating with last year?"

Now it was Sam's turn. "Not really."

"You don't? He's a dizzy blonde, no offense. Chandler's an ass. Oh, you must have been Cleopatra in a former life cause you've got a great asp."

"Now I'm totally lost. What the hell does that even mean? Wait, Cleopatra killed herself with a snake, an asp, right? So he's talking about Kurt's..."

"Ass. " Blaine said quickly. "He's talking about his ass, not his...Anyway, it's a pretty lame pick-up line."

"I guess." Actually Sam made a mental note to use that one day. No, maybe he should just forget the whole thing, he'd probably screw it up and get slapped.

**At The concert**

Up to this point the concert was a blur to Sam. Neither one of them had ever heard of these guys but they seemed to have a rabid following. Add to that the fact that Blaine knew half the kids on the dance floor resulting in Sam being quickly abandoned to the care of some girls described as being 'from Crawford Day', whatever that meant. He was at the back of the club with a girl who was telling him for the fifth time how her parents were out of town for the weekend when he heard Mercedes' voice.

_There might have been a time  
When I would give myself away  
Oooh once upon a time I didn't give a damn  
But now, here we are  
So  
Whataya want from me?  
Whataya want from me?_

* * *

_Whataya want from me_ - Pink or Adam Lambert


End file.
